Events during September 2023

This presentation will give delegates a:

Real world evaluation of a syndromic panel compared to traditional Gram stain and culture
The presentation will cover:

An outline of the trial
A summary of findings
The local experience of the process
Brief local case studies that show how the multiplex PCR panel results could have positively affected patient management.

Benign glandular histology as potential for BLEC

A variety of virtual ward services are delivered across Oxfordshire through collaboration of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, and Principal Medical Ltd (PML) a GP led service. They include Hospital at Home, Children’s Virtual Ward (jointly with OHFT), Acute & Community Palliative/End of Life Care (Community – Sue Ryder Care).

The Point of Care Testing (PoCT) team at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust has supported the development and delivery of PoCT in community and ambulatory settings over the past 10 years.

Using a model developed around the requirements of ambulatory medicine; this has been delivered with limited resource, focussing on utilising existing resources wherever possible.

Commencing with the Acute Hospital at Home, the service has been successfully expanded to support mobile PoCT across Oxfordshire.

The laboratory acts as the distributor of instruments and supplies; facilitates connectivity, and testing, and coordinates delivery of training through a combination of remote and cascade routes.

Device selection and repertoire has been standardised. Up to this point mobile services have been limited to use of the Abbott i-Stat & Alinity systems (electrolytes/metabolites/blood gas). However, Hospital at Home, and other mobile services are requesting a greater repertoire of tests, particularly CRP. The LumiraDx platform provides us with an option for CRP that is portable, easy to operate, connectable and robust.

Challenges remain around connectivity and information management. This has been exacerbated by the cross-organisational nature of these services leading to the management of patients through multiple IT systems; and led to the development of indirect routes for result entry into the patient record.

Whilst we have been able to deliver connectivity in two rapid response vehicles, this was not a scalable solution and mobile devices are docked at the base location on return from visits.

EQA of Autoimmunity

The presentation gives an overview of the NHS Patient Safety Incident Response Framework, it’s principles and requirements. There is also a brief summary of the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) and how this is different to previous models of investigation. The presentation then focusses on how PSIRF has been implemented at Northumbria Healthcare, an acute and community provider in the North East of England, with a focus on the phased implementation approach used by the PSIRF leads. The speaker will also cover the challenges in the implementation to date and the successes experienced so far.

Validation and Verification Workshop

This presentation will give delegates an introduction to important human viruses, their treatment with antivirals and possibilities for preventing antiviral resistance. Implications of recently identified metabolic capping of hepatitis C virus.

The session will provide an overview of the Histopathology Reporting qualifications outlining the success so far and then will focus on the new limited scope Reporting qualification for those involved in Cervical Screening. It will provide guidance on the eligibility criteria for this qualification, the portfolio requirements and the support needed by candidates from colleagues in order to undertake the qualification.

There is a lack of validated tools to assess potential disease progression and hospitalisation decisions in patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with a suspected infection. The aim to identify suitable blood biomarkers (MR-proADM, PCT, lactate and CRP) and/ or clinical scores (SIRS, SOFA, qSOFA, NEWS and CRB-65) to fulfil this unmet clinical need and recognising the “ill looking well” and the “well looking ill”. We found in patients presenting to the ED with a suspected infection, the blood biomarker MR-proADM could most accurately identify the likelihood of further disease progression.

Incorporation into an early sepsis management protocol may therefore aid rapid decision-making in order to either initiate, escalate or intensify early treatment strategies, or identify patients suitable for safe out-patient treatment. There is currently a randomised controlled trial to assess the accuracy of the above findings.

Crossroads to a Compatible Career: From Pipette to Patient Blood Management